Nets heat up in second half, pull away from Bulls

Cam Thomas scored 28 points and Dennis Schroder added 27 as the Brooklyn Nets heated up from behind the 3-point arc in the second half and earned a 125-108 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Friday night in New York.

The Nets (29-45) tied a season-high with their third straight win thanks to an offense that made 18-of-24 3-pointers in a 78-point second half. The Nets tied a season-high with 25 3s and finished with 68 3s in sweeping the three-game season series from the Bulls.

Thomas made 10-of-22 shots from the floor and hit 5-of-9 3-pointers and Schroder shot 10-of-21 and made 7-of-11 3s, finishing one shy of his career-best.

Mikal Bridges contributed 20 of his 25 after halftime and also finished with seven 3s while shooting 8-of-15 overall as the Nets shot 47.3 percent from the floor.

Dorian-Finney Smith scored 12 and Nic Claxton contributed 11 points and 13 rebounds as the Nets improved to 8-12 under interim coach Kevin Ollie.

DeMar DeRozan led all scorers with 31 points but the Bulls (35-39) lost for the fourth time in five games and saw their lead for ninth place in the Eastern Conference shrink to a half-game over the Atlanta Hawks.

Coby White scored 18 and Ayo Dosunmu contributed 16 as the Bulls shot 50.7 percent but missed 21 of 30 3-point tries.

Despite shooting 34.6 percent, the Nets hit six 3s and held a 27-21 lead through the opening quarter. After the Nets opened a 24-12 lead on Claxton's dunk with 2:38 left in the opening quarter, the Bulls outscored Brooklyn 40-23 the rest of the half and held a 52-47 lead by halftime.

Chicago opened a 59-52 lead on a putback by Nikola Vucevic less than two minutes into the third, prompting Ollie to use a timeout. The Nets countered with a 17-4 run to take a 69-63 lead on Schroder's 3-pointer with 7:02 left. Brooklyn settled for an 86-85 lead after White's 13-footer in the lane rolled in just before the end of the third quarter.

The Nets opened a 112-102 lead with 4 1/2 minutes left when Schroder and Bridges sank 3s on consecutive possessions. Thomas sank a stepback 3 from the top of the key over Vucevic that made it 117-104 with 2:19 remaining.